


The Measure of a Man

by kireteiru



Series: Not Endgame Fix-Its [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Everyone Else Deserved Better, F/M, Not A Fix-It, Not Happy, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), not u steeb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 09:33:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18617914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kireteiru/pseuds/kireteiru
Summary: "If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." - Orson Wells





	The Measure of a Man

**Author's Note:**

> Spitefic. Pure _spite_ , because EVERYONE deserved better. Haven't seen Endgame yet, but that hasn't stopped me from literally making myself _sick_ with rage. At least in the Russos' universe, Steve Rogers is a _monster_.

“You’re not gonna talk to him?”

Bucky paused where he’d been walking away, letting Sam catch up. It took everything he had to keep his voice steady as he said, “No.”

“Why not? I thought you guys were best friends.”

“I thought so too.” He lifted his head to look up at the blue sky – _the color of his eyes_ – and called on every bit of his HYDRA “training” to push away the heartache tightening like a vise around his chest. “But the facts remain.”

“Facts? Dude, what-?”

“HYDRA.” Bucky turned his head just enough to look at Sam, keeping – _the other man_ , out of sight.

Sam fell silent, eyes going wide.

“If that actually is _our Steve_ , and not one from an alternate timeline who just happened to make the same choice and wound up here, he knew. He knew what was coming. Everything major, at least, from while he was in the ice, and then what came after. New York, Insight Day, Novi Grad, the Accords… Thanos.”

Bucky swallowed thickly. “Peggy. If he told her about HYDRA rotting SHIELD – the house she _built_ – from the inside, she would have _done something_ and _damned_ the consequences to the timeline because that’s the kind of woman she was. She probably would have prepared for everything else, too – had stuff _ready and waiting for us_.

“But she didn’t. Which means he didn’t tell her. Lied by omission with every breath he took. He did nothing, or as good as.

“Same thing with the Starks. Howard and Maria, and Tony. He knew that Howard was duplicating the serum – maybe even _helped him_ , even though he knew where that road would end. He didn’t just _not tell_ Tony about his parent’s deaths – _he. Let. Them. Die._ ” Bucky clenched his fists and sank deeper into the Winter Soldier so he could stay in control of at least _one thing_ in his life. “He did _nothing_ , or as good as.

“And… me. He knew I was alive. Knew Zola had me. Even knew _where_ he had me, at least for a while. Knew what HYDRA would do to me, what I had done – what I _would do_ , under their control. _And he let it happen._

“There had to be other things, too. Even if he didn’t know the specifics, there had to be certain signs he _knew_ to keep watch for – and could have _done so_ , with his wife as the head of a global intelligence agency. But even if he watched… he still did nothing, or as good as.”

Bucky gave Sam a bitterly sympathetic smile. He’d heard about Riley from – from _him_. “Whether that is _our Steve_ , originally from _this_ timeline, or another one who happened to make the same choice that all those others centered around…” He shook his head. “There had to be a universe out there where I couldn’t forgive him. Where I couldn’t just be happy that he was happy, where I couldn’t still be his friend, watch his six.

“This one just happens to be it.” His smile turned purely bitter. “I don’t want to be friends with a Steve who could spit on himself and his legacy, everything he stood for, for the sake of _maintaining the timeline_. Who could look all that in the face… and just let it pass.”

And then, Bucky kept walking.


End file.
